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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24230191">All the Little Things (This Is Enough)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cicadian_Rhythm/pseuds/Wolpertinger'>Wolpertinger (Cicadian_Rhythm)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fuck it I'm tagging it as Hazbin hotel because it was for someone working on the show, Gen, Here you go man, Other, Rated T for language, So Ashley from Hazbin Hotel said she wanted a werewolf romance, You know what?, hope you like it, maybe then someone will read this damn thing I spent a month on, non-binary</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:42:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,632</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24230191</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cicadian_Rhythm/pseuds/Wolpertinger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Werewolf decides to come out to their girlfriend. Fluff ensues.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Non bionary/female, Original Female Character(s) &amp; Original Non-Binary Character(s), werewolf/human - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>All the Little Things (This Is Enough)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>@AshNicholsArt has been posting consistently about werewolves recently. She's a very talented artist and I love their work on Hazbin, so I figured this was the best way I could say thanks to her and the team, if the team also likes werewolves.</p><p>Edit- SO I JUST REALIZED NOW THAT IT POSTED AS A GIANT WALL OF TEXT. This has been fixed.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So...” Dakota scratched the back of their neck, looking anywhere but at her, “So what do you think?”</p><p>In the pause before Rachel spoke, it felt like the summer breeze filled the void between them on the apartment rooftop, languished in heavy waves, and then;</p><p>“Why does it sound like you got that line from a Hallmark Halloween special?”</p><p>“Bitch, what do you want me to say?”</p><p>She laughed, “I don’t know, something that’s not that? ‘Oo, what do you think? Look at me and my abs and my pecs and my ass glistening in the moonlight.’”</p><p>They smiled, in spite of their shaking. “Fuck you.”</p><p>“‘My heart yearns for affection, but I am such an asshole.’”</p><p>“Rachel-”</p><p>“‘Woe is me, the lone wolf.’”</p><p>“Rachel, seriously.”</p><p>She laughed again, but there was an edge to it, flakey and unsure, “I really don’t know what you want me to think about it, Dakota. You’re a werewolf.”</p><p>“Yeah, and normally, this is where I run into a problem.”</p><p>“Okay?”</p><p>Dakota sighed, “I’m asking if this is going to be a problem,” they said, gesturing to themselves, “for you. I’m asking if this freaks you out, because if it does, that’s fine. That’s okay. I can-.”</p><p>“Oh my god, if you pull the, ‘I’ll disappear and never show my face around you again,’ card I’m gonna lose my shit.”</p><p>“Well how do you want me to do this then!”</p><p>Rachel shook her head, face twisting as she shrugged. She turned her face to the wind, towards the distant chlorine plant, who’s steam and smoke rose above the city in thick plumes illuminated. The shifting, waxy light played with the edges of shadows around her face, around her sleepless eyes and downturned corners of her mouth, the places where Dakota wished to kiss. Instead, they took a deep breath, counting backward from ten as they listened to the wind rustle the leaves, felt the vibrations of the traffic under their feet, and focused on these things instead.</p><p>Dakota sat down on an air conditioning unit and sighed, dropping their face into their hands, “How do you want me to handle this?” they said, softer this time.</p><p>Rachel’s voice was small, “I want you to be honest with me.”</p><p>“You don’t consider this being honest?”</p><p>“No. I mean- yes, but I want- Can you give me context for this?”</p><p>Dakota’s head snapped back up, “The fuck is that supposed to mean?”</p><p>“It means what it means! Because cool, okay, but why are you telling me this?”</p><p>“Because I want to?”</p><p>“But why!”</p><p>“Because I care! Because I want to be open with you- I don’t get how that’s so hard to understand.”</p><p>“Most of the time when people talk about being open with one another, they’re talking about hopes,” Rachel threw her hands in the air, “or fears, or dreams, or some other shit.”</p><p>Dakota raised an eyebrow, “Now who sounds like a Hallmark special.”</p><p>“The point is they don’t talk about how they’re a-a-!”</p><p>“A monster.”</p><p>“...I was not going to say that.”</p><p>“What were you going to say then?”</p><p>“Why do you trust me with this?” and here Rachel pinned them with a stare, “Why do you trust me with knowing you’re a werewolf when, and I’m going to hedge a bet here, you haven’t told anyone else.”</p><p>“I-” Dakota stammered, “wh- because I love you?”</p><p>Rachel’s expression slipped, shifted into dumbfoundedness, and in spite of themselves, they laughed.</p><p>“No,” she said, moving for them with purpose, but they could hear her voice shake as she fought a smile, “No, you’re not allowed.”</p><p>“Not allowed to what?”</p><p>“You’re not allowed to pull that cute partner routine on me right now. That’s not fair.”</p><p>Dakota grinned, “Well guess what, bitch?” they said, reaching out and grabbing her, pulling her in the rest of the way to hold her, “I don’t think it’s fair that you don’t think I love you.”</p><p>“I don’t think that you don’t love me, I think you’re stupid for doing so. Fundamental difference.”</p><p>“Shut the fuck up with that right now.”</p><p>“Listen, you pull the same thing on me all the time. Don’t act like you don’t.”</p><p>“Yes, but now you know why I think that.”</p><p>They could feel Rachel trying not to laugh as she gently slapped their chest, “Doesn’t matter. Hypocritical. I’m not putting up with it.”</p><p>“It’s only hypocritical if the situations are the same.”</p><p>“Oh, I’m sorry, Mx. Dictionary, Mx. Hot-Kettle-Werewolf-Calling-The-Pot-Black-Bullshit</p><p>“You still think I’m still hot like this?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>But there was a pause as she ran her hands along the contours of their shoulder blades, lifting the fur there to expose the skin to the summer wind, and they shuddered. Resting their chin on Rachel’s head, they waited, lowering their eyelids until the lights of the plant looked like shining citrines in the darkness, dappled with the rubies and diamonds of traffic running along the expressway.<br/>
People were living out there, going places, living their lives. People were out there spending their time as if they had all of it in the world, while they were here waiting with their world on pause, waiting for the asteroid that they knew wasn’t going to come now, and yet, and yet-</p><p>“Fuck, does that make me a furry?”</p><p>There she was. There was their girl.</p><p>Dakota clung to her as they laughed, and they could feel her ball her fists in the hair on their back as she buried her giggles and snorts into their chest.</p><p>“You really love me that much?” they heard her say, voice surprisingly brittle, “To trust me with this?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Wow…”</p><p>Dakota could have sworn their heart seized in their chest, just a little, and as it sputtered back into a healthy rhythm, they squeezed her gently and felt her own pulse down her arms, through her chest. They held onto that until their head stopped spinning and they let go, moving their hands to her shoulders as they lowered their forehead against hers.</p><p>“You have questions for me, I know it.”</p><p>“So fucking many.”</p><p>Dakota laughed, “Well, we’ve got all night. Start whenever you’re ready.”</p><p>“Shit, um,” Rachel chewed her lip, eyes darting between theirs, and Dakota could see the gears turning, “Were you- were you cursed? Did you get bitten or- how does it work?”</p><p>They smiled, “This is genetic. My parents are the same way.”</p><p>“Really? Shit…” she frowned, “Was it hard growing up?”</p><p>“Nah. Everyone in the culdesac where we lived was. The movies get a few things right- we stick to packs.”</p><p>“The whole thing? Seriously?”</p><p>“Yup.”</p><p>“...Is that why you did that weird homeschooling program?”</p><p>“Yup.”</p><p>“That’s fucking wild,” Rachel mumbled, “See, I thought maybe you were bitten, because you don’t like dogs.”</p><p>“It’s not that I don’t like dogs, it’s just the dogs around here are assholes.”</p><p>“I’ve never seen you willingly interact with any though.”</p><p>“Yeah, because they’re assholes.”</p><p>Rachel laughed, and it was such a good laugh, a genuine laugh, and the way it nestled into the folds of the evening summer breeze and wrapped around the two of them made Dakota giddy. It must have shown, because Rachel reached up and cupped their face in her hands, smushing their cheeks and rubbing them in little circles.</p><p>“What is up with you tonight?” she chucked, “I’ve never seen you like this.”</p><p>“I’m just happy.”</p><p>“Honey, how long were you working yourself up to this?”</p><p>“Maybe...the past...six months.”</p><p>“Holy shit, why?”</p><p>It was asked in a tone that was almost in jest, but Dakota knew better. They recognized that look she had, the one where she quietly tries to crack their skull open like an egg to get to their brain. Dakota rolled the words around their mouth before they finally spoke</p><p>“I knew this was serious,” they said, “I wanted to tell you because when I realized I loved you, I knew I was going to have to...but I didn’t know how, and...I was afraid.”</p><p>Rachel’s expression softened, and she brushed her fingers through their hair, “That’s fair...but I’m not going anywhere.”</p><p>Dakota beamed, pulling her in for another hug and burying their face in her hair. They took a deep breath, holding her in their arms and in their lungs before slowly releasing their grip, exhaling, to be face to face with her again.</p><p>“You do that a lot, you know,” Rachel said, face flushed and grinning ear to ear.</p><p>“Do what?”</p><p>“Smell my hair. I always thought it was my shampoo. That’s why I haven’t switched in so long.”</p><p>Dakota shrugged, “It’s… a little bit of that, yeah. Gardenia is a really good smell on you, but...I also like how you also always smell like shitty coffee and that incense you like so much.”</p><p>“I haven’t burned that in over a month.”</p><p>“Doesn’t matter. It sticks to you.”</p><p>Rachel cocked her head, “In all the fantasy books I’ve read, werewolf senses are heightened. Is that true or nah?”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s true.”</p><p>“Is that why you can smell all of that on me?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Is it overwhelming being in the city then?”</p><p>Dakota blinked, “Sometimes.”</p><p>“Is that why you prefer to be out at night?”</p><p>“...How the hell-? I mean, you’re right, but damn that was fast.”</p><p>She smiled, “Sometimes I can put two and two together.”</p><p>“I know,” they couldn’t help but giggle, “I know that, but still.”</p><p>“So what’s the difference then?”</p><p>Dakota stood up straight then, looking at her as they grappled with the question, watching the parking lot lights and mimosa trees cast flickering shapes across her expression, mixing and melting with the lights from the expressway and beyond.</p><p>“Could you-,” they swallowed, their throat suddenly tight as they gestured limply to the conditioning unit, “Could you sit down here for me? Please?”<br/>
Rachel gave them a look they knew well, but still, she did as asked. Once she was situated, they moved in front of her, kneeling.</p><p>“Close your eyes.”</p><p>“What are you gonna do?”</p><p>“I’m going to try to answer your question,” Dakota said, taking her hands in theirs, “and I don’t know if this is the right way to do it, but it’s the only way I can think of right now.”</p><p>Rachel started chewing her lip again, head cocked as they watched her try to guess three steps ahead of them, but then she closed her eyes.</p><p>Dakota took a deep breath and turned their head.</p><p>“To the right of us,” they said, “There’s the parking lot of our apartment complex, and all the cars. I figured out who owns each car by smell the first week I moved here. Mrs. Linux keeps a stash of pink wintergreen mints in her spark. The Gumble’s family SUV reeks of cereal and baby wipes. Clarence’s car you already know permanently smells like he’s hotboxing but there’s also the smell of his grandfather’s cologne as well as the cherry tobacco.</p><p>“I can tell where the smokers have been, and how long they stayed, and when they left, and who they were. I know them down to their cigarettes and the shoes they wear. I know when Mrs. Svoboda is going to make that pork she makes because she only smokes pipes and she only smokes pipes when she’s lonely. I know she’s lonely because I can hear her talk to someone she knows from her home country on the phone if I stand in your kitchen. I don’t know what she says, but I know it’s someone she loves, and I know she’s asking about people she hasn’t seen in a long time, because I can tell some of what she’s saying are names, and she’s lonely. I know when Vince looks up porn because I can hear him, and when he’s trying to hide it because KiKi gets home from work early.</p><p>“I know who has had guests over, and who has let them stay. Little bits of conversations, of movies, of radio stations and records and cassette tapes, and yes, they all sound different, and you know that if you really pay attention to it but to me, I don’t have to pay attention- it’s just there. Just like how I always manage to wake up fifteen minutes from home if the windows in the car are down, because I can smell the mimosa trees, and the Virginia creeper, and the onion grass, and all the cigarettes, and the brick and mortar, home.”<br/>

Dakota paused, looking at Rachel’s face to make sure she was still keeping her eyes closed, and she was. They didn’t allow themselves to look for too long though, they didn’t want to lose steam now, so they turned and looked the other way.</p><p>“To the right of us is the intersection, and I know where all the cops hide because the shadows change shape, and I know when different line cooks are on opening shift at the Speedy Burger because the air will smell different, and I know when Clarance is in at the bookstore because I can smell the weed on him leading to the bookstore, and I can tell what time it is from our apartment without looking at the clocks because I can feel the rumble of the traffic and how it shakes the lights and the signs. There’s the on-ramp that leads to the expressway, and I can smell the trash that people leave there, and the junkies that visit. I can smell the daffodils that somehow ended up there, and the honeysuckle, and the maple trees on the other side.”</p><p>Dakota cocked an ear.</p><p>“The 3am train is coming in early and you’re gonna hear it in a little bit.”</p><p>Rachel opened her eyes, “Seriously?”</p><p>“Yeah, hold on a second.”</p><p>There was a moment where Dakota knew Rachel could only hear the soft rumble of a standard Sunday night, and then, the astonishment bloomed on her face as her ears finally picked up the sound of the whistle.</p><p>“That’s insane….” she whispered.</p><p>Dakota smiled, “For you.”</p><p>“What else,” Rachel leaned in, clutching their hands, “What else is there?”</p><p>“Do you want to be here all night? We can be here all night.”</p><p>“I’m honestly okay with that.”</p><p>“You work in five hours.”</p><p>“No, what’s gonna happen is I’m going to call in sick in about four.”</p><p>“You can’t-”</p><p>She shook her head, “I can and I will. This is a big deal, and it’s going to be treated as such. I’m taking the day, Dakota, and we’re gonna spend it together and take our time with this. Tell me everything you want to tell me. Keep going.”</p><p>There was a pause, and Dakota let it breathe and be, before they leaned in and kissed her gently. Then, they settled back on their heels, then froze, “Wait, was that okay?”</p><p>“Was what okay?”</p><p>“The kiss? Was that okay? Are you okay kissing me like this?”</p><p>“...It was kinda weird, not gonna lie.”</p><p>“Shit, sorry.”</p><p>Rachel laughed, “Why are you sorry?”</p><p>“Never done this before,” Dakota mumbled, looking just over her shoulder, avoiding her stare, “Never...got this far.”<br/>

Rachel placed a hand on the side of their face. Taking a deep breath, they focused on her again, on her open, honest face.”</p><p>“Well,” she said, “I’m not going anywhere. We can take our time to figure it out.”</p><p>Dakota leaned in and held her once more. Again, they buried their face in their hair, taking a deep breath and holding it, committing this moment to memory, with the feeling of her in their arms, their heart beating right next to hers.<br/>

When times got harder, as they knew they would, this would still be here, and this, they knew, would be enough.</p>
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